(Undated)– Wildlife advocates are asking Congress to pass bill that would help states track diseases killing wildlife across the country. In Iowa, the measure would focus on slowing bird flu outbreaks, among other things.
House Resolution 6-7-6-5 would spend up to 42-and-a-half million dollars a year to help state wildlife experts study and share data on diseases and their spread.
This winter, Iowa’s poultry industry has lost roughly three million birds to a highly contagious strain of bird flu. Iowa Wildlife Federation Executive Director Ryan Smith says as one of the nation’s largest egg producers, outbreaks like this are having a dramatic effect on livestock farmers and, by extension, consumers…
The bill would also provide funding to track chronic wasting disease now prevalent in Iowa’s large deer population, and white-nose syndrome, an invasive fungus causing record numbers of deaths in bats – which, Smith says, are critical to controlling insect populations.
The measure awaits action in a U-S House subcommittee.
(Courtesy Iowa News Service)
